Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

[jim4silver]

Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Yesterday I was able to buy some old 5, 25 and 100 peso silver coins for a bit over 10 bucks an ounce. Most of the coins are .720 purity and are somewhat odd weights. I did some research and some of the coins have low mintages, under 200K coins minted.

I just wanted to get some silver at the lowest possible price over spot. No way am I gonna pay the equivalent of 2.50 over spot for 40% halves. It is even higher for 90% halves, and who knows how much for .999 bars and ASEs.

Jim

 

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[BBcardsRI]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Its always nice to add to the silver stash.

You mention just wanting to add silver at a good price... how do you feel about the sub 90% coins?

80% canadian, 40% halves... and the 70odd% mexican...?

I used to not care... but the past couple weeks I have been starting to not care for them so much. Dealers don't seem to like them as much and neither does ebay... you can sell them obviously at both places, but the prices seem to be lower per ounce, and there is generally less demand.

My old CRH buddy used to trade his dealer all his 40% AS SOON as he got them for 90% stuff or bullion. I never did that and kept them... thinking about trying to do it now.

I'm curious how other bullion hoarders feel about the sup 90% stuff in comparison to the higher grade coins.

~Dave

 

[jim4silver]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Its always nice to add to the silver stash.

You mention just wanting to add silver at a good price... how do you feel about the sub 90% coins?

80% canadian, 40% halves... and the 70odd% mexican...?

I used to not care... but the past couple weeks I have been starting to not care for them so much. Dealers don't seem to like them as much and neither does ebay... you can sell them obviously at both places, but the prices seem to be lower per ounce, and there is generally less demand.

My old CRH buddy used to trade his dealer all his 40% AS SOON as he got them for 90% stuff or bullion. I never did that and kept them... thinking about trying to do it now.

I'm curious how other bullion hoarders feel about the sup 90% stuff in comparison to the higher grade coins.

~Dave

I was actually looking to buy 40%, but the premium equaled about 2.50 over spot. I was able to get my Mexican coins for about 1 dollar or so over spot. I have some Canadian silver dollars in the collection that I got a good deal on a while back. I would not mind buying Canadian junk silver smaller coins for 1 dollar over spot, but here they want more than. The premiums on Canadian are about the same as 40% recently. I wish I had bought a bunch of 90% a year ago when it was being sold less than spot.

Jim

 

[rodzm]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

I think for a lot of people anything sub 90% is considered "substandard quality", in essence that is why often times those coins sell for below their worth. The retail investor looks for something recognizable, 90% silver is very close to the high standard of .999. There is a set price out there for when you sell 90%ers, and 40%ers. You can usually get 90%ers for 10x face value...not sure about 40%ers though. However is there a standard out there if you were to sell odd weights and a purity of .720

Silver is silver but when it comes to getting premiums for them or making a profit on the the 90% and 40% route is the way to go. People dont know any better so they will pay substandard prices for substandard product.

Im not knocking on those who purchase odd weights and odd purity silver items but it is the sad truth that we face today. I may even be inclined to buy some of the Mexican silver pesos in the future but it would be more for collecting purposes rather than investment purposes

 

[jim4silver]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

I think for a lot of people anything sub 90% is considered "substandard quality", in essence that is why often times those coins sell for below their worth. The retail investor looks for something recognizable, 90% silver is very close to the high standard of .999. There is a set price out there for when you sell 90%ers, and 40%ers. You can usually get 90%ers for 10x face value...not sure about 40%ers though. However is there a standard out there if you were to sell odd weights and a purity of .720

Silver is silver but when it comes to getting premiums for them or making a profit on the the 90% and 40% route is the way to go. People dont know any better so they will pay substandard prices for substandard product.

Im not knocking on those who purchase odd weights and odd purity silver items but it is the sad truth that we face today. I may even be inclined to buy some of the Mexican silver pesos in the future but it would be more for collecting purposes rather than investment purposes

Rodzm,

I wish I had read your post before I bought the Mexican silver. I spoke to my main coin dealer a little bit ago this morning and mentioned my purchase of the .720 and he gave me some bad news. He said that if I were to sell it to him, he would only pay about 75% of melt. This is due to the fact that anything below 80% pure gets hit with a high assay fee from the smelter that it gets sent to, and it costs the smelter more to refine it into .999 or whatever it is made into.

The coin dealer said they don't sell it to the public because of the lower purity and odd weights, and people don't want to buy it. I only bought a couple hundred worth and the coins are in great shape, so like you said I will save it for numismatic purposes down the road. Some of the coins look uncirculated and have low mintages. Glad I did not buy too much.

As far as 40% US coins go, there is still a high demand from investors (unlike the Mexican .720) so you can still get a decent price if you sell. Most of the 40% is not being sent to the smelters since investors are buying it up at higher than melt premiums, so dealers would lose money by sending off to be melted. But if a person wanted to be extra safe sticking to 90% US would probably be smarter long term.

No more Mexican junk silver for me. This is the first PM purchase I have ever made that I feel was a mistake. Glad it was not an expensive lesson.

Jim

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Best way to turn a "mistake" into a good deal is to trade it for someone else's "mistake". You wanted 40% and there are many people on here who have 40%. You could list what you have - country - number of coins - fineness - ASW and offer to trade that for the highest offer in 40% halfs. Each side pays their own shipping. Two people end up happy that way. siegfried schlagrule

 

[jim4silver]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Best way to turn a "mistake" into a good deal is to trade it for someone else's "mistake". You wanted 40% and there are many people on here who have 40%. You could list what you have - country - number of coins - fineness - ASW and offer to trade that for the highest offer in 40% halfs. Each side pays their own shipping. Two people end up happy that way. siegfried schlagrule

That's not a bad idea Siegfried. But I was doing some looking on Ebay at Mexican coins and they seem to sell for a nice amount as slightly numismatic coins, so I will stash them for now and if I ever learn to ebay sell may give it a go on that. And if, or rather when, silver goes back up to $20+ per ounce I can just sell them and still make a profit even at 75% off melt.

Jim

 

[jim4silver]

Re: Bought some old Mexican "junk" silver coins

Yesterday I was able to buy some old 5, 25 and 100 peso silver coins for a bit over 10 bucks an ounce.

Watch out for counterfits.

I was at a swap meet last week and this guy (no english) had a pile of Mexican peso coins and Morgan dollars. I picked up a few and looked at them with my loop and a few were counterfit. I put them down and looked at the Franklins and JFK halves which were real and asked how much? (his english got a lot better) $7.50 each I told him the 1969 JFK was only worth $1.50 at the most and I could offer him is $2.50 each for all his Franklins. He refused.

Since I seemed to know what I was talking about his daughter came up to me and wanted me to look at a gold and diamond ring she was trying to sell. She didn't want me to buy it she just wanted me to appraise it. So I put on a good show, looked at it for awhile with my loop (it was stamped 14K) held it up to the light and looked at the pave of diamonds with my loop and then bounced it in my hand a few times. I then took about 15 seconds and told her yes it was gold and diamonds but the value was $75 I got the sad reaction in her face that I wanted.

I then told the father that a lot of his coins were counterfit and asked him if he knew what he would get for them. He said no (good english now) I said TEN YEARS

Cyberdan,

I have no doubt that my coins are genuine in that many show toning and they all have that silver ring to them when struck. Unfortunately after I bought them I learned that many coin dealers will not buy them for near spot prices because they are only 72 percent silver and the refiners pay way below spot for them, just like 40% halves, but at least with 40% halves there is enough buyer demand that they most often dont find their way to the refiner. I am saving them and hoping for numismatic value later in that I only bought a couple of hundred dollars worth and some are in great shape. Really neat coins and maybe down the road the market for older Mexican silver coins will pick up.

Jim